What Black-Eyed Susan Taught Me About Succeeding Right Now

Please give a warm welcome to Black-Eyed Susan! She's pictured on the right.

Actually, this is Black-Eyed Susan's body double.

The real Black-Eyed Susan, who lives in my garden, is too shy to be photographed. She's not looking her best.

But she sure reinforced an important lesson in thriving in these tough economic times.

You see, Black-Eyed Susan was growing like crazy…lots of stems and, on top of those stems, lots of buds.

But then one day in early July she was cut down in her prime.

I
caught the culprit red-handed. It was one of the local deer. There he
was, munching away as I pulled into the driveway. He looked at me
sheepishly (if a deer can look sheepish) then ran away, Black-Eyed
Susan stalks hanging from his jaws, sap dripping from his lips.

Black-Eyed Susan was reduced to a chewed-up stump.

Until last week, when I noticed that she'd produced two fresh stems, and on each of these stems was a ripe bud.

A lesson, I thought!

If
Black-Eyed Susan can grow again after being eaten to within an inch of
her life, so too can I keep growing when the economy tries to cut me
down.

After all, Black-Eyed Susan sure has persistence. An essential quality in times like these.